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Just Getting Started
My first year as NGAUS president was eventful, rewarding and, at times, a little eye-opening. After 15 years on the board of directors, I had a good understanding of our association’s history, goals and finances. I also knew the long list of NGAUS legislative accomplishments over the years can make advocacy on Capitol Hill look easy. It’s not. In fact, some of our biggest victories were the product of years of persistent work, and I knew that coming in.
But my perspective was largely from afar. Day-to-day operations at the association were new to me. And I quickly learned a few things.
One was a new-found respect for the staff and what they do every day. Leaders of other associations in Washington, D.C., are often surprised when I tell them we only have 28 people on staff. They see what we do, and they think we are much larger. That’s a real tribute to those who work here.
Another eye-opener was the number of events held in our building, the National Guard Memorial. Last year, we hosted meetings of the NATO Reserve Forces Committee, the Swedish Defense University, the Adjutants General Association of the United States and the Air National Guard Commander Leadership Course.This was in addition to two NGAUS Capitol Summits, our Legislative Workshop and our Industry Day. Multiple state Guard associations and some of our industry partners also used the building for congressional receptions and other gatherings.
There’s real value to NGAUS and the Guard writ large to host other military groups in our building. Although 34 years old, the National Guard Memorial with its high ceilings, marble floors and many artifacts still impresses visitors, especially first-time visitors. And that helps our cause.
My first year also enabled me to get to know our state and territory associations and their leadership. I attended several state association annual meetings. I was invited to speak, but I spent more time listening. The experience only bolstered my view that we are an association of associations, and that we must continue to work in concert to move things forward.
My message to the state associations was the same as I said last year in the pages of this magazine: We need to think a bit differently than we have in the past. And we need to be open to new ideas. We’ve become too comfortable doing things the way we’ve always done them. That doesn’t serve our membership in a fast-changing world.
One place I said could use a refresh is the NGAUS conference. It’s a very good event. The professional development and networking opportunities are unrivaled. But I think we can make it better by breaking the traditional mold with some new voices at the podium and a wider array of exhibitors in the tradeshow.
Last year, we took a big step in that direction by adding to the agenda Joe McCormick, a strategic communications expert who works with multiple major commands, and Bob Parsons, who may be America’s most successful veteran entrepreneur. Parsons, who owns Parsons Xtreme Golf, was also an exhibitor, and his golf simulator was a big hit on the tradeshow floor.
Then-former President Donald Trump also spoke to us in Detroit. We are staunchly bi-partisan, and we would’ve preferred having both major-party candidates for president. We invited both last year as we always do and worked hard to secure their participation.
Hosting a presidential candidate is a lot of work, and the required added security affects every attendee. But the event casts an invaluable national spotlight on the Guard, its contributions and its needs. We have now had at least one of the candidates in every election year since 1992. We look to have both the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees in 2028.
We also undertook the first NGAUS Oral History Project in 2024. Every association member was contacted by our commercial partner in this endeavor, PCI, and invited to take part. Roughly 11,000 responded, with more than 1,600 sharing their personal stories. Ten have already been published in this magazine. Many more will be included in a coffee-table book set to be printed later this year.
The effort also improved our membership database. Information from the respondents enabled us to add 2,621 emails, 6,000 home phone numbers and 7,500 cell phone numbers. We were also able to correct 875 home addresses.
Meanwhile, the National Guard Educational Foundation spent a good portion of last year helping mark the 80th anniversary of one of the greatest chapters in Guard history: the D-Day landings in Normandy, France, during World War II.
NGAUS and the NGEF have sent a delegation to commemorate the Guard’s role in D-Day every five years since 1949. I had the privilege of joining the group, which held a ceremony at the National Guard Monument on Omaha Beach at sunrise June 6, 2024. The monument, which the NGEF maintains, sits just steps from where of the 29th Infantry Division, a Guard unit from Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, first came ashore.
We had a chance to walk down to the water eight decades to the minute those young Guardsmen first hit that beach. For some, it was the last thing they did. I looked around and tried to imagine what they must have seen, heard and felt. It was humbling.
The entire trip, which included visiting with some of the few D-Day veterans still around and able to travel, was something I will never forget.
The NGEF also had a great year fundraising, including 35 new Legion de Lafayette contributions of $10,000 or more.
I also said last year that I wanted to take a long look at the business side of the association, specifically trimming unnecessary costs and raising revenue. To the end, I’m happy to report that we were able to cut $1 million in our 2025 operating budget, mostly from belt-tightening and reducing the frequency of the magazine to six times a year.
We've become too comfortable doing things the way we've always done them.
On the Hill
A good part of our advocacy effort last year was devoted to stopping the Department of the Air Force effort to win congressional approval to transfer Air Guard space professionals to the Space Force.
The number of personnel directly affected is small, less than 600 Guardsmen, but they make a large contribution to U.S. space operations. Most have said they would retrain to another specialty or separate rather than move, which means the desired transfers would diminish U.S. space capabilities and readiness at a time when China and Russia are challenging the United States in space.
Air Force leadership was also looking for a free pass around federal law that prohibits moving Guardsmen and their units to the active component without the consent of their governors. We believed such a precedent would open the door for other services, not be one and done.
NGAUS led the fight against the Department of the Air Force’s Legislative Proposal 480. The adjutants general and the governors soon joined us. Every state governor and the five territorial governors signed letters to the president or the secretary of defense opposing LP 480.
We kept the issue in the news by placing op-eds signed by retired Guard senior leaders in defense publications. We also courted defense reporters interested in the issue. And our legislative team worked with the House Armed Services Committee to make any transfers subject to their governor’s consent in the House version of the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act.
We fought a good fight, but in the end, we did not prevail. The transfers without the consent of the governors found their way into the final NDAA during backroom negotiations designed to settle differences in the House and Senate versions of the annual defense policy bill.
However, we did score some victories in the NDAA, including language that extends military technicians until age 62, increases military leave for federal employees from 15 to 20 days a year and makes some progress toward recapitalizing the Air Guard fighter fleet.
Defense appropriations were another challenge. We worked all year to secure congressional add-ons over the president’s budget request for Guard equipment. But in March, lawmakers, unable to settle their spending differences, passed a continuing resolution to fund the government through the end of fiscal 2025. It includes no new equipment for the Guard beyond what was in the president’s original proposal.
The lone exception is the $850 million in the congressionally directed National Guard and Reserve Equipment Account, which is always $0 in the president’s budget.
By comparison, final fiscal 2024 appropriations included $1 billion for NGREA along with funds over the president’s budget request for four CH-47 Chinook Block II helicopters for the Army Guard and eight C-130J Hercules cargo planes for the Air Guard. There was also a record $140 million for Army Guard Humvee modernization. Such equipment add-ons have become critical to Guard equipment modernization.
The CR did include funds over the president’s budget for Army and Air Guard military construction and the Guard counterdrug program.
Congress needs to prioritize settling its spending differences and passing defense appropriations on time. Relying on CRs delays modernization and reduces readiness. It also emboldens our adversaries.
This Year
Our legislative priorities for 2025 build on our earlier progress.
To meet our warfighting obligations to the country, our formations must be interoperable with their active-component counterparts. This means the same organization, the same equipment and the same resources and benefits as the active components.
Among our top equipment priorities are Humvee modernization, MQ-1C Gray Eagle 25M unmanned aircraft system procurement and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter procurement in the Army Guard and fighter recapitalization and C-130J Hercules cargo plane procurement and modernization in the Air Guard.
Another imperative is Zero-cost TRICARE medical coverage for all members of the Guard and Reserves. The National Guard Bureau estimates that 60,000 Guard Soldiers and Airmen have no health care. That hurts our medical readiness.
And Guardsmen only receive health care when they are on federal orders for more than 30 days. Meanwhile, state active-duty orders only offer workman’s compensation. All of this means a significant portion of Guardsmen are at real risk during most domestic responses.
Many people we talk to — reporters, state and local officials, even some in the active component — are surprised when we tell them our country doesn’t provide everyone in uniform with medical coverage. It’s time we changed that.
But, as we’ve already seen, this is no easy ask. We’ve been working on this issue for four years, and many on Capitol Hill are stuck on the initial cost, which has been estimated at more than $715 million annually. That figure, however, is deceiving. First, the cost would initially add very little to the more than $60 billion annually the military already spends to provide health care.
More importantly, Zero-cost TRICARE will pay for itself in cost avoidances, higher medical readiness and increased retention.
We’ll also renew our push to establish a Space National Guard. Transferring Air Guard space professionals to the Space Force is in the Fiscal 2025 NDAA, but the president made clear to NGAUS and the nation during his address to us in Detroit that he wants a Space National Guard.
New legislation was introduced in both the House and Senate in March, and we’ll make sure to publicize any effort by the Space Force to transfer Air Guard personnel as contrary to the intent of the new commander in chief.
I also fully expect the Trump administration will want to reset the force structure to confront what it sees as the leading threats to the nation. That could result in cuts in some services to pay for added equipment in others. We are already working to ensure new senior defense officials are aware of Guard cost-effectiveness and capabilities. It’s a plus that so many are former Guard officers.
An internal focus at NGAUS this year will be the development of a strategic plan for our association. The objective is a comprehensive short/mid/long-term plan that will establish NGAUS as America’s strongest advocate for promoting the highest levels of relevance, readiness, modernization and quality of life for our Guard family.
Retired Brig. Gen. Bobbi Doorenbos, the association board’s secretary, and retired Brig. Gen. Maria Kelly, the NGAUS director of membership and marketing, chair a committee that will be looking at all aspects of the association and speaking with every stakeholder group. This is probably the most comprehensive look at the way forward we’ve undertaken in many years.
The committee plans to provide an update at the 147th General Conference & Exhibition this summer and submit its draft plan at the board meeting in November.
Meanwhile, the national staff will work hard every day to improve our communications outreach and membership services and deliver the best conference experience for our attendees in Milwaukee.
This is the best job I’ve ever had. I get to continue serving after my own 40 years in uniform. And I’m serving Soldiers and Airmen with a great story to tell. We will face challenges this year, but I look forward to working with you to prevail for the betterment of our force.
RETIRED MAJ. GEN. FRANCIS M. MCGINN can be reached via [email protected].
2025 NGAUS LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
(For the deliberation of the fiscal 2026 defense authorization & appropriations acts)
Ensuring deployability, interoperability and sustainability with the active component through:
The Same Organization
● Future multidomain battlefield interoperability, including:
■ Deployable and interoperable force structure that is validated and doctrinally consistent
■ Space National Guard as the primary combat reserve component of the Space Force
■ Continued National Guard integration in the Total Force cyber mission and training
The Same Equipment
● Deployable, Interoperable and sustainable equipment
● Concurrent and proportional fielding of equipment, including:
■ UH-60M Black Hawk, MQ-1C 25M Gray Eagle, F-35A Lightning II, KC-46A Pegasus, C-130J Super Hercules and Future Vertical Lift procurement
● Equipment modernization and recapitalization, including:
■ AH-64E Apache, Humvee, M1 Abrams and M2 Bradley, C-130H
Hercules, A-10 Thunderbolt II,F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon
The Same Resources & Benefits
● Zero-cost TRICARE to ensure reserve-component medical readiness
● Post-9/11 GI Bill parity
● Robust National Guard & Reserve Equipment Account funding
● Tax incentives for Guardsmen and their employers
● Ready access to mental health care and suicide prevention
● Increased National Guard military construction
